TIME was when you could get a free watch with just about anything. Now – good grief – you have to buy a car.

And this is not just any watch – it’s a BRM worth thousands.

But if you get your hands on a new DS 3 Performance BRM Chronographes in matte gold, the watch comes with it – a specially designed timepiece to go with this beautiful little car – yours for just £25,495.

I haven’t driven it yet but, on a trip to test the latest DS 3 Performance model, I was given a glimpse of it, and it is quite a unique free gift.

Free BRM watch with the special DS edition

My attention, however, was on the DS 3 Performance, a fabulous souped up version of the ever popular DS 3 and, on the particular route I was driving, even glancing at your watch would have been dangerous.

The Performance version comes in a limited variety of badge colours – gold, grey, white, red and the ultimate top-of-the-range Black version, which combines a black body with a gold roof.

Very edgy and yours for £22,495, which is £2000 more than the “standard” Performance.

It has a 1.6-litre petrol engine tuned to provide 208bhp and a burst from the off to 62mph in just 6.5 seconds.

It has a new chassis, new suspension and an anti-roll bar and it will satisfy your every desire to go hurtling along as swiftly as possible while sticking firmly to the Tarmac.

New DS 3 Performance in black and gold

To prove the point, DS sent us for 7.5 miles on a closed mountain road in France from Grimaud to Colobrieres – part of the route of the Rallye du Var.

Narrow and testing, it winds tortuously up and down. It is achingly beautiful in places but with a frighteningly perilous drop on one side.

There were chicanes, hairpins and fast straights and the DS Performance vanquished them all.

“It’s not budging at all,” commented my co-driver as she hung on to the roof handle.

And it accomplished this with the kind of flourish of sound that is so delightful – a throaty, gurgling, popping noise as you moved up and down the gears.

It’s the kind of soundtrack that sends a shiver up your spine as soon as you hear it because you know then you are in for something special.

And then it was my turn to deal with the drop as my co-driver took the wheel and we shot through the skinniest of bends. No showboating here, then.

The drive was exhilarating and thrilling and a great way to show off the amazing strengths of this little car.

New DS 3 Performance leading the way

We reached the end of our 12 kilometres and the traction control went back on – and, with it, the return to reality as we started once again meeting oncoming traffic.

The DS 3, of course, has always been a popular city supermini but this rally course showed off its other side, the side that perhaps you do not think of when you are parking it up in town and going off to do the shopping.

With a fiery engine underneath and the suspension stiffened, I really think this is the little hand grenade for careerng along those tracks.

Inside, it still retains all the lovely furniture that makes it so beloved of the fashionistas.